OpenMedia.ca in the news

From CBC News

Bell internet customers will no longer have their file sharing uploads and downloads deliberately slowed down.

Bell Canada and Bell Aliant will stop using equipment to selectively slow down file sharing applications on their networks starting March 1, the companies said in a letter to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on Monday.

That will affect both the companies' own retail internet customers and the customers of independent internet service providers who rent wholesale access to Bell's network in order to connect directly with customers' homes. Read more »

From Huffington Post

It's not exactly Canada’s very own Patriot Act, but a Harper government amendment to the country's privacy law has some experts seeing shadows of the controversial U.S. legislation.

Industry Minister Christian Paradis tabled an amendment to the PIPEDA privacy law on Thursday, hailing it as a step forward towards greater protection of Canadians’ online privacy.

Among the amendment’s provisions are a new rule requiring organizations to report data security breaches to Canada’s privacy commissioner, as well as some exceptions to privacy rules designed to make it easier for companies to carry out day-to-day business. Read more »

Interestingly, Arstechnica points to questions that were raised 130 years ago regarding the telephone industry and its implementation of metered billing. Sound familiar? Like those who protested in 1886, the pro-Internet community is striving to encourage policy-makers to re-imagine the web. This article cleverly links the (once feared) universality of the telephone with our current concerns of advancing an open, accessible Internet. If we keep it up, we can be the history-makers of our time. Onward! Read more »

By Alexander Ly and Adam Webb for The Mark

Canadian privacy online is about to be put at serious risk. As if internet malefactors and unruly privacy settings on major applications weren’t enough to dissuade Canadians from exercising their online liberties, a trio of invasive bills centred on “information disclosure, mandated surveillance technologies, and new police powers” is set to be fast-tracked through Parliament. Under the euphemism “lawful access,” Bills C-50, C-51, and C-52 aim to “modernize” the Criminal Code and the Competition Act and push the limits of state surveillance. Read more »

Why is everybody freaking out about Lawful Access right now? Why is the "I've got nothing to hide" argument missing the point? And why are the experts (Privacy Commissioners, academics, and public interest organizations) so concerned?

Listen to Tamir Israel of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) on the CBC Tech Podcast to find out why. Read more »

As this CBC commentary from Dan Misener describes, despite its "unfortunate name," the Conservative government's "Lawful Access" legislation is anything but boring. Indeed, this invasive set of electronic surveillance bills present grave security risks for all Canadians. It's no wonder that many people representing a diverse range of interests -- from Canadian privacy commissioners to civil liberties associations to public interest organizations -- have stepped forward to voice their concerns about the proposed jeopardy of data security and the lack of oversight in handling this data.
Read more »